This moist and delicious apple spice cake is filled with all the fall flavors you love, covered in a perfect brown butter vanilla buttercream and topped with an intoxicating homemade caramel.
Perfect for Fall: warm drinks, soft sweaters and my caramel apple spice cake! This cake is so simple to make and decorate but incredibly delicious.
If you find cake decorating to be a bit intimidating then check out my How to Decorate a Cake post, it has lots of helpful tips and a full how to video.
Pro Tips for an AMAZING Apple Spice Cake
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- You can save some time and skip browning the butter. You’ll still love the cake BUT definitely try that brown butter sometime!
- If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
- You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
PRO TIPS FOR MAKING CARAMEL
- Don’t stir! After the sugar has dissolved you don’t need to stir as it can cause crystals to form and ruin that silky consistency.
- DO brush the side of the pot down with a wet pastry brush. This will help prevent those pesky crystals from forming.
- Watch the color carefully taking the sugar to a deep amber color gives a wonderful flavor but going too dark will make a bitter caramel and that sugar will go from perfect to burnt in an instant!
- Use room temperature butter and cream.
- Caramel keeps for a while in the fridge so you can make this part ahead of time or make a big batch and save some for ice cream, coffee drinks and snacking!
- When adding salt dip your a spoon in, let the caramel cool a bit then taste and add more salt if needed. Be careful that sugar is HOT. You can also sprinkle more salt on at the end for a finishing touch!
How to Make Apple Spice Cake
1. Add 3/4 cup of butter to a pot and cook over medium low heat stirring occasionally until the milk solids in the butter caramelize and darken. Be careful of splatters! Once the butter has darkened transfer to a bowl and chill until almost solid. The brown butter will be slow to cool and thicken back up so make sure to do this step in advance. Follow the tips above for perfect caramel that won’t crystalize.
2. To make the caramel add brown sugar, cream, butter and salt to a small pot over medium-low heat and whisk until the mixture almost dissolves, leave it alone until it bubbles and thickens, although you can wash the side down with a wet pastry brush. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, transfer so a bowl and set aside to cool completely.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices into a large bowl. Whisk together and set aside.
4. Add the yogurt, eggs, melted coconut oil, vegetable oil, and vanilla into a medium bowl and whisk together.
5. Peel, core and chop enough apples to have about 2 cups. Set aside and if desired squeeze the juice of half a lemon onto the apple pieces. It won’t matter if the apples brown while exposed to the air but I like the acid from the lemon juice for some contrast.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix to combine using a spatula to fold the very thick mixture together.
7. Add the apples into the batter and fold to incorporate. Your batter will seem quite thick but don’t worry!
8. Distribute the batter between 3 six inch pans and Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. I’ve also made this same recipe with 4 six inch pans and it works nicely as well.
9. While the cake bakes it’s time to make the buttercream. Add the room temp (partially solidified) brown butter you made in step 1 to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add salt and half the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low for about a minute.
10. Add the remaining powdered sugar, and vanilla then mix on low. Drizzle in cream until desired consistency is reached. Transfer buttercream and caramel from step 2 to piping bags and snip the tips off.
11. Pipe buttercream onto the first layer. Drizzle caramel, then add the second layer on top.
12. Pipe buttercream and caramel onto the second layer, add the third and cover in a thin layer of buttercream.
13. Smooth the buttercream out using a bench scraper, and or an offset spatula. I scraped away most of the buttercream for a semi-naked look but you can leave more on if you’re a frosting person.
14. Pipe caramel onto the top and give a quick smooth with a knife or offset spatula. Don’t pipe to much as the caramel drips will slowly descend down the cake for a while.
IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT!
If you’ve tried this cake then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Apple Spice Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour 360g
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon 4.6g
- 1/2 tsp ginger 0.9g
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1g
- 1/2 tsp allspice 1g
- 1 Pinch ground cloves
- 1 tsp vanilla 4.9mL
- 1 tsp baking soda 4.6g
- 1 tsp salt 6.3g
- 1/2 cup coconut oil 118.2mL melted
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil 59mL
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt 59mL
- 1.5 cups sugar 192g
- 3 large eggs
- 3 to 4 apples about 2 cups cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups) I prefer honey crisp but many varieties are great.
For the Buttercream:
- 1 pound confectioner's sugar 453.5g
- 3/4 cup room temperature Butter 170g
- 1/3 cup cream 79mL
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 14.7g
For the Caramel:
- 1 cup brown sugar 200g
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 71g
- 1/2 cup cream or half and half 118.2mL
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 14.7mL
- 1 Pinch of salt
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Sift and whisk together the dry ingredients
- Mix together the wet ingredients until well combined in a large bowl or stand mixer
- Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until just combined
- Fold in the apples
- Divide the mixture evenly into four 6" pans, which have been buttered and floured. (I always use cake strips too)
- Bake at 350F for approximately 40 minutes or until centers are done.
For the Buttercream:
- Add 3/4 cup of butter to a pot and cook over medium low heat stirring occasionally until the milk solids in the butter caramelize and darken. Be careful of splatters! Once the butter has darkened transfer to a bowl and chill until almost solid. The brown butter will be slow to cool and thicken back up so make sure to do this step in advance.
- Cream the butter in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Add in the salt and powdered sugar gradually and beat together.
- Add vanilla and cream until desired consistency is achieved.
For the Caramel:
- Combine ingredients in small pot and stir together so they're mostly dissolved.
- Place over medium-low heat and cook for 7-8 minutes leaving it alone until it bubbles and thickens, although you can wash the side down with a wet pastry brush.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla then transfer to a bowl to cool.
Video
Notes
- If you’re not using 6-inch pans, double the recipe for 8-inch pans or triple the recipe for 9-inch pans.
- You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.
- To get FLAT layers that are moist inside and out try using cake strips! You can buy a set or make your own from foil and paper towels at home. I made a whole blog post on it so check it out if you’re interested!
Nutrition
Fantastic recipe! The brown butter and the caramel turned out great following your instructions. It was my first time making both, so I was really pleased. Thank you!
Hi Debra,
That is so great to hear!! Browned butter and caramel are SO good, especially when used together!! I’m happy you enjoyed the cake!
Best,
John
I made this cake for a family gathering. Everyone loved it. It is sooooo good! Take the time to brown the butter. It’s a game changer. I will definitely make this again and again.
Hello Tara,
I’m glad to hear you made this cake and everyone loved it! Browned butter is totally a game changer!
Happy baking!
John
If I am just using 3 8″ pans (instead of 4), do I still need to double the recipe? Thanks!
Ros
Hi Roslyn,
If you are only using three 8″ pans, you should be fine keeping the original measurements! I hope you enjoy the cake!!
Best,
John
Will this recipe work in 3 8″ pans given you can use 4 6″ pans?
thanks!
Ros
I did this cake three times so far. The first time exactly following the recipe, and the combination of the spicy, moist, aple-explosionist layers with the caramel was heaven! But, as you can imagine, for my german tongue the american buttercream was way (WAY!) too sweet. For me, personally, the more sugar you add the less of you can taste the wonderfull browned butter in the cream. Which more than awesome itself – The second bake I actually ended up doing three small plain cakes with just a sweep of browned buttercream and caramel on top, because without that much sugar it was not able to sustain layers. So bottom line: wonderfull cake, very balanced and strong flavours, but not yet the right cream for my taste.
Now I tried the mascarpone whipping cream frosting from your Berry Cake (https://preppykitchen.com/berry-cake/) with just an idea of cinemon added so the cream conects to the spicy cake, and I salted the caramel just a little bit more that I used too…and this is just right for me! It is less sweet, but the cream is able to stand up against the very strong spicy flavors, the sweetness/salted of the caramel. Only whipped cream would have been too weak, but the mascarpone just gives enough body to it.
Thank you very much for the inspiriation!
A happy german Bäckerin.
Great idea! I’m going to try the mascarpone whipping cream frosting too. Thanks for that suggestion. I’m not a fan of sweet buttercream either.
I have a deep confession… I am a little obsessed with this cake, I have a deep, deep love for this cake as in I am making one right now for my office party, I am not sure I want to share 🙂 . I just wanted to thank you for the amazing recipe and step by step instructions (that I actually understand).
Hey Misty,
Thank you for sharing! I’m a little obsessed with this cake too. 🙂 I only have one question for you; to share, or not to share??
Best,
John
Hi! May be a silly question but I’m not totally sure what type of cream to use? Like heavy whipping cream?
Thanks!
Hi Ashley,
Yes! Heavy whipping cream. 🙂
If you enjoy the cake, I’d love it if you would let me know by rating the recipe!
Happy holidays!
John
I made this cake for Thanksgiving this year and my family absolutely LOVED it! Everyone was very impressed by its pretty appearance, and it tasted amazing! The instructions are super clear, and the video tutorials is extremely helpful.
I highly recommend this cake, and will definitely be making it again in the future!
OMG!
I just happened to stumble across your YouTube page and all your cakes biscuits cookies cupcakes look absolutely amazing I am just baking this cake now for the second time because it’s absolutely delicious the aromas the brown butter gives, the moist cake.
Also much appreciated that you put the grams on the recipe for those like me who are in the UK looking forward to try more of your bakes and to see more of your creations.
Felicia x
Hi Felicia,
It’s nice to hear how much you enjoy Preppy Kitchen. I love this apple spice cake SO much. What will you bake next??
Best,
John
Wow!! So good! I’ve made this cake twice now… once for my brothers wedding (it turned out perfect!!!) and again for thanksgiving! I’m living in Thailand now and when I made it here it was much too moist, to the point of starting to fall apart (dont worry, it still tasted amazing and was gone by the end of the night!) any suggestions on modifying your recipies for REALLY high humidity? Which wet ingredients would be best to reduce to balance out the moisture again?
Thanks for all your amazing creations!
I know this is a year old response but it’s something that lots of people deal with outside of the US… I don’t think it’s the humidity but probably the sugar! We live in Mexico and we have two “white” sugars available. One is slightly off white and one is very white… The off white has more molasses in it, it’s not as refined, which means it has more moisture. We usually just reduce the sugar about a quarter cup, or go slightly lower on one of the fluids.
I‘ve always wanted to know what i should do if a recipe says to use a stand mixer with a pedal attachment, because sadly i dont own one 🙁 do you maybe have a tip on how to make this buttercream if i cant use a pedal attachment?
You can totally use a hand mixer!
Does the baking time stay the same with 8 or 9 inch pans?
You’ll be adding 5-8 minutes
If I wanted these in cupcakes how many would it make??
About 20 I think
Thank you for this recipe. Everything about it is delicious. The video showing the steps looked like it might have been very helpful, unfortunately the nonstop music in the background made it impossible to watch.
Loved this recipe! Carmel apple is my boyfriend’s favorite dessert combo and this cake did not disappoint for his birthday 🙂 I was a little worried it would be too sweet, but it was a perfect balance. His family and coworkers loved the leftovers for breakfast with their coffee the next morning. I am now 3 for 3 with your cake recipes – they are always a huge hit!
I really enjoyed this recipe. It was the first one I’ve ever used from Preppy Kitchen, but it was met with rave reviews. I have a few tips for anyone who decides to make the cake. I didn’t read the comments beforehand, so maybe these tips were mentioned earlier. 1. He prepares a naked cake, and I think because of how cloyingly sweet (but delicious) the buttercream is that that is the best preparation for the cake. 2. I personally ended up with more caramel than I needed and added an extra thick layer of caramel on top of the cake. As a result, my caramel drizzle is still flowing (very slowly) down my cake 3 days later. I’d use a thin layer of caramel on top and for the drizzle. FINAL COMMENT: I didn’t like the texture of the cake during the first slice, but every subsequent slice has been better than the last. I think over time the cake naturally dries out and the texture improves 10 fold. I made cake out of 9 inch rounds (so we’re sharing) and everyone wants the recipe. It’s a testament to your expertise, sir.
Firstly, thank you for all your videos and recipes John. You’re always so cheery, it’s infectious! I made this recipe a while ago and everyone ADORED it, especially the buttercream – it was such a great twist on plain butter!
I would love to make this as cupcakes next. Do you have any suggestions on temperature and baking times?
I do! Check out my caramel apple cupcakes! 🙂
This cake is amazing! I made it for my friends and they all loved it! I love this cake because it’s also very easy to make it diary-free. This is a very good recipe and I have already been asked to make it again!!
Thank you!!!
Hi, I wanted to make this and really didn’t want to buy coconut oil for this. Are there any substitutes for it?
Thanks!
Veggie oil will be fine!
A wee bit confused by caramel instructions…
Pro tips say
Don’t stir! After the sugar has dissolved you don’t need to stir as it can cause crystals to form and ruin that silky consistency.
How To, Step 2 says…
To make the caramel add brown sugar, cream, butter and salt to a small pot over medium-low heat and whisk until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Mix in the vanilla, transfer so a bowl and set aside to cool completely.
INSTRUCTIONS say…
For the Caramel:
Combine ingredients in small pot.
Heat over medium-low heat while whisking
Cook for 7-8 minutes until thickened and transfer to a bowl to cool.
My brain is not assimilating these as the same method. ???
Hi Kathy! My changesgot lost in a draft somewhere. Thanks so much for pointing this out. I’ve updated the recipe. No stirring means less crystallization and a smoother caramel.
My caramel did have a slightly grainy texture, but the whole cake was still a great hit at work. I will try again with your caramel cake recipe. FYI… I ground some dried apple slices, and distributed a bit of the “apple powder” across the filling layers and top, put a handful of the dried apple slices over the top caramel. Several oops moments while making this cake. Need to be a bit more zen. I thought the frosting (before I added too much sugar) tasted just like kettlekorn. Yummy.
The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5: As in my original post, several different sets of directions and a video did not necessarily coincide, kind of like having 5 chefs talking at once!
Amazing flavors! Perfect for fall!
Thank you!
I’ve got this baking right now! I’m perplexed though… in the video you brown a pound of butter and caption it as 3/4c, and the recipe says 3/4c. Which is the correct measurement??
Gosh I want to say that 1 pound yielded 3/4 cup because you lose the water in the butter when it cooks.
It is fall again, time to make this wonderfull cake again! I have been looking forward to it all summer, and finally I have an occasion to make it! With delicious almost sour but bity Boskop-apples from our garden. I am thinking about making some more cakes and frost them (just the cake layers), and I think because they are so moist they should frost just fine.
Again using a browned butter/mascarpone frosting!
Thank you for this amazing recipe!
So happy you like it!!!
Does the Carmel sauce need to be refrigerated. I made it but won’t be using it for 2 days.
it should yes.
Can I substitute grated apples for cubes and can I use Swiss Buttercream instead of American?
Yes you can use grated apples. And Swiss buttercream is always a good idea.
Can the cake layers be frozen if i want to make this ahead of time? Then finished when I need it